40% of Christmas spend to be done on Black Friday

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According to Purch’s 2017 Christmas Spending Survey, Black Friday will account for 41% of Christmas gift spending in the UK this year.

A further 22% will be done in the final two weeks leading up to Christmas eve. The UK festive period in the closing days of 2017 is likely to be defined by the uncertainty associated with Brexit.

With many people reigning back on spending and retail sales taking a hit, the proportion of shoppers who said they would be looking to snag tech-related bargains has jumped 17% since last year.

A third of the 2,000 UK adults surveyed said that the UK’s impending exit from the UK, and the current air of economic uncertainty it has created, makes it more likely that they will seek out bargains on Black Friday as part of their Christmas shopping.

Tech takeover

The results of the Purch survey suggest that this Christmas will be dominated by tech gifts, with over half being technology related.

Tablets and iPads came out on the top of the list of tech presents that people are planning on buying for others, with 24% planning to wrap one up under the tree. Following closely behind were video games (22%), smart TV’s (20%), laptops (19%) and Android phones (15%).

The average tech spend this year is set to be around £286.

When it comes to how consumers are most likely to decide what they are going to buy their friends and families, online reviews are the most likely resources people will turn to.

47% said that online reviews on trusted websites are the best way to make purchasing decisions, while 32% prefer online supermarket websites as a place to browse and shop.

Social media is not a particularly popular way of trying to figure out what to buy people, with only 16% listing this as their primary source of inspiration.

Andre Baden-Semper, VP of European Sales & Marketing at Purch said:

“Despite the increase in price uncertainty post-Brexit, it seems consumers across the UK are still set to be spending significant amounts on technology-related products this Christmas with the average shopper looking to pay £404 compared to £266.58 last year.

“However, despite the growth in Christmas budget, consumers are increasingly looking to shop in a savvy fashion with more shoppers than ever planning on buying their gifts during Black Friday and more turning to reviews on trusted websites to help with their decisions.”